Cost to schools of approving leave and hiring day relief

The rates on this page apply at 3 July 2023. These rates will change over the term of the 2022-25 collective agreement, but the general patterns illustrated will be consistent over time.

Secondary schools receive some of their operational funding to assist with relief for teacher absences of up to eight days.

• most secondary schools receive $3,020 per FTTE 
• maximum relievers' daily rate is $366.96 (including holiday pay)

This means that Ministry of Education funding covered at least 8.2 days of relief per FTTE ($3,020/$366.96). Schools are expected to ensure there is sufficient funding in the relief budget to cover actual needs.

Schools may either pay for a day reliever from their operational funding or to the Teachers’ Salaries (TS) i.e. against their staffing entitlement.

When the school pays from the operations grant the school will pay the actual cost of the day relief. Actual costs are the salary costs of the day reliever, which will depend upon the step they are being paid on and the number of hours they are employed to relieve.

When a school charges the relief to their staffing entitlement, the school keeps the operational funding, and the ministry pays the actual cost of the reliever and deducts from the school’s staffing entitlement 0.1368 FTTE for that fortnight (which includes the holiday pay component).

When a full-time teacher is away on leave without pay from school for one day the school saves one day in a fortnight, or 0.0714 FTTE, which becomes a cash saving to the school if:

• The school finishes its staff banking year in deficit and reimburses the Ministry for its staffing overuse. At $83,500 per FTTE one day’s cost is $228.77. 

Or 

• The school finishes its banking year in surplus and is reimbursed by the Ministry for its staffing underuse. At $66,500 per FTTE one day’s reimbursement is $182.92.

Relievers may cover for teachers on leave with or without pay, which needs to be taken into account.

The following scenarios provide examples for one day teacher relief:

Scenario 1 - paying reliever from ops grant for a teacher on leave without pay

The school pays for a reliever from the operations grant for a teacher on leave without pay (LWOP). The school will pay $366.96 from operational funding and save one day’s FTTE on its staffing entitlement. The net cost of the day relief (depending on whether the banked staffing is in surplus or not) is either ($366.96-$228.77) or ($366.96-$182.19), so a net cost of $138.19 or $184.77 depending on whether the school is in banked staffing surplus or deficit at the end of the year.

Scenario 2 - paying reliever from ops grant for a teacher on leave with pay

When a full-time teacher is away on leave with pay from school for one day the school is charged 1 FTTE against its TS entitlement for that fortnight, as they would be if they were present.

The school pays from the operations grant for reliever for a teacher on leave with pay. There is no saving to the TS entitlement. The net cost to the school is the $366.96 from operational funding.

Scenario 3 - charging relief to staffing entitlement for a teacher on leave without pay

The FTTE cost to the school is the difference between the saving on the absent teacher and the charge to the entitlement for the relieving teaching i.e. 0.1368-0.0714 =0.0654 FTTE, which becomes a cost to the school if on its staffing entitlement, but it saves it operational funding.

• The school finishes its staff banking year in deficit and reimburses the Ministry for its staffing overuse. At $83,500 per FTTE the cost is $208.46 but the school saves the $366.96 operational funding provided by the ministry, so the net saving is $157.50.

or

• The school finishes its banking year in surplus and is reimbursed by the Ministry of Education for its staffing underuse. At $66,500 per FTTE the cost to the school of not receiving the reimbursement on that part of its staffing entitlement is $182.19 and the school saves the $366.96 operational funding provided by the ministry, so the school saves $200.15.

Scenario 4 - charging relief from staffing entitlement for a teacher on leave with pay

When a full-time teacher is away on leave with pay for one day there is no saving to the TS entitlement. The school charges the reliever against TS for a teacher on leave with pay. The banked staffing cost to the school will be $438.13 or $348.93. The school will retain the $366.96 operational funding, so the actual cost of the day relief is the difference between the staffing cost and the retained operational funding (a net cost of $71.17 or a saving of $18.03).